Judge denies Pfizer's motion to dismiss Zoloft lawsuit

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Fri, 22 Jul 2005 01:23:48 -0000

[sSRI-Research] [drugawareness] Judge denies Pfizer's motion

to dismiss Zoloft lawsuit

 

 

 

Big news on the legal front.

 

Today, for the first time in the US, a wrongful death suit filed

against Pfizer has been cleared for trial. Many of you know Kim

Witczak, who has been tireless in her efforts to bring pressure on

the FDA and Congress to force stronger warning labels on

antidepressants.

 

Now, her courageous efforts to find justice for her husband's suicide

death on Zoloft have been rewarded, and she and her family will have

their case argued in front of a jury.

 

We will be posting the judge's ruling on our website this evening in

which he calls he calls Pfizer's arguments for dismissal a " public

policy argument gone awry. "

 

Mark Miller

ICFDA Kansas Regional Director

 

--

 

The following article appeared today in the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

 

http://www.startribune.com/stories/535/5517600.html

 

Judge denies Pfizer's motion to dismiss Zoloft lawsuit

 

David Phelps, Star Tribune

 

July 21, 2005

 

Drug manufacturer Pfizer Inc. had the authority to strengthen warning

labels for its Zoloft antidepressant drug and did not need Food and

Drug Administration approval to do so, a federal judge ruled

Wednesday in a lawsuit brought by a Minneapolis woman whose husband

committed suicide shortly after he began taking the medicine.

 

In his ruling, U.S. District Judge James Rosenbaum denied Pfizer's

motion to dismiss Kimberly Witczak's lawsuit. The company asserted

that FDA regulations pre-empted stronger failure-to-warn state

statutes. Rosenbaum ruled that FDA warning standards are minimum

standards.

 

" It is obvious that state failure-to-warn laws do not pressure

manufacturers to include false or invalid warnings, " Rosenbaum

wrote. " Instead, they give drug manufacturers every incentive to warn

of real, known risks as soon as they are discovered -- even before

any FDA action. "

 

Key to the Witczak case is whether Pfizer gave adequate warning that

use of Zoloft could lead to suicidal tendencies.

 

Rosenbaum noted in his ruling that the FDA issued an advisory in

March 2004 that patients using selective serotonin reuptake

inhibitors, the family of drugs that includes Zoloft, should be

watched for worsening depression and suicidal thinking.

 

Witczak's husband, Michael, 37, committed suicide in their south

Minneapolis home in the summer of 2003. He had been prescribed Zoloft

to help him sleep and had no prior bouts with depression, Witczak

contends.

 

Rosenbaum also said the mass marketing of prescription drugs in print

and on television has created a new appeal for these medicines which

creates an environment that " calls out for enhanced consumer

protection.

 

The ruling keeps the Witczak case on track for eventual trial.

 

David Phelps is at dphelps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drug-Free School Zone? Just Say NO to Prozac for Children.